It was great to see the Ducks rebound from an ugly loss against the Vancouver Canucks with a character win over the Nashville Predators the following night.
Anaheim won 3-2 in a shootout to improve to 3-1-0 on the season.
The game was highlighted by Ducks backup goalie Viktor Fasth's first career NHL win and Daniel Winnik's fifth goal in four games.
This leads me to a very hot topic and one that needs to be addressed...should Fasth take the starting job away from Jonas Hiller? I say yes.
Fasth stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced and all three he saw in the shootout. Technically, the Swede is a rookie because this is first season in the NHL, but let's not look past the fact that he is 30-years-old and his pre-NHL resume is pretty impressive in its self.
Fasth was the SEL goalie of the year the last two seasons and he is more than capable of backstopping the Ducks at this level.
He was incredibly sharp in is debut and made critical saves for Anaheim while they were shorthanded. In fact, the Ducks held the Predators scoreless with the man advantage. It was the first time all season Anaheim kept another teams power play off the scoreboard. The first-year goalie played a huge role in that.
Hiller has been mediocre at best this season and his numbers are among the worst in the NHL (3 games, 12 goals against, 4.00 GAA .864 sv%). The last thing the Ducks need is a goalie controversy, but its headed that way.
Just listen to Bruce Boudreau sing Fasth's praises after the game on Saturday night.
"He was just calm as a cucumber," Boudreau beemed. "I've never been a goalie and never want to be one, but that's the demeanor they have to have to be successful. Even in the shootout, it was like, have a cup of coffee and wait for the guy to come down. He was pretty relaxed and he made two really big saves."
From my perspective Hiller is the exact opposite at times; flopping in net, unsure of his positioning, especially with his glove. I know Boudreau will go back to Hiller. That's a given. All I'm saying is that a few more clunkers like we have seen in his first three starts and Coach B should consider going with Fasth for an extended stretch.
I know one game is not a great barometer for how Fasth will do in the NHL, but it's a start and it was heck of allot better than what Hiller has put out there so far.
It's win at all costs for the Ducks this season; even if that means benching a popular player such as Hiller.
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Now onto Daniel Winnik. Yes. I too am very impressed with how well he has been playing and how good his touch around the net has been. The game-tying goal he scored against Nashville was a beauty.
BUT....
The Ducks can't even think about flipping him around to other lines. Why? Because he is a product of line chemistry with Saku Kouivu and Andrew Cogliano. The three have been palling around outside of the rink and genuinely seem to like each other. Let me tell you that makes all the difference in the world in ones performance. (Just ask Dwight Howard)
Let's all take a step back and enjoy what Winnik is doing right now. Remember his career high in goals is 11 and he's done that twice. He's almost halfway there; unless he turns back into his actual self and never scores another goal this season and that is all too possible.
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